It’s not magic, or rocket science… just love.
I don’t know why, but I trust you.
You have kind eyes.
God loves me? Do you really believe that? Thank you.
Would you stay with me for a while? I feel safe with you here.
We were strangers just moments before. We never wanted or intended to meet. But something terrible happened and it’s my job to show up when terrible things happen. And these are the kind of things strangers sometimes say to me in my work. It’s strange, beautiful, terrible, and wonderful work.
It’s my job to show up and be a person amid the chaos who is trustworthy, kind, reassuring, and safe. It’s my job to be a non-anxious presence with strangers in the early moments of their trauma and/or grief. It’s my job to show up. It’s my job to be present. It is my job to care. But it is also an expression of who I am, who I am becoming, and who I want to be.
My life is oriented around my faith and I choose to put my faith in a God I believe to be the fullest expression of LOVE. Anything I try to practice in my life and work is simply an expression of the image in which I am created. It’s not magic, or rocket science… just love. LOVE. That’s it. It doesn’t matter the circumstance or situation. Regardless of their culture, sexuality, faith tradition, political persuasion, or any other way we tend to define or divide ourselves… I want people to feel seen, heard and loved when we meet. I don’t always get it right, but that’s what I’m aiming for. That’s where I seek forgiveness and reconciliation when I miss the mark.
People come from different starting points in their understanding of who God is and how God interacts with us.
People come from different starting points in their understanding of what the Bible is and how it should be read.
People come from different starting points in their understanding of what love looks like and how it can/should be expressed.
Some people don't feel safe questioning God (or the version/vision/image of God they most align with/relate to from their upbringing/experience.)
In the presence of God, I feel safe, seen, and loved. I feel free to question, doubt, and wonder. I feel free to love. I feel free to affirm expressions of love that look different than my own. I feel free and safe to rest in the presence of God who is not just loving… God IS love.
It's a lovely expression, "I feel free to love." Everyone affirms the idea of love. As an abstraction it gets a lot of votes. But in my experience, "principles" (my shoulds) tap the brakes. "Aren't you endorsing "x" by unreservedly loving this person? Isn't it possible that you're causing harm?" The "should" ties a weight to the freedom, plants a doubt. The Reaction to my own libertine phase still exercises an influence over my freedom.
And so the idea of being FREE to love, not as a should, nor an ideal, but as an ongoing reality, that is powerful.